Fareed speaks with Stuart Butler, a Brookings scholar, who's written extensively on massive open online courses, or so-called MOOCs, and Anant Agarwal, who runs edX, a MOOC outfit founded by two bricks and mortar institutions.

Stuart, explain first the kind of crisis in what you've called the business model for higher education.

Well, it certainly is a crisis that they’re facing. First of all, the costs of traditional education have been going up and the indebtedness associated with it. Now student tuition debt in the United States exceeds credit card debt. Secondly...

And it's $1 trillion, right?

Butler: Yes, exactly. Secondly, you're seeing different kinds of information coming forward so that people can actually evaluate the success of going to one college or another, whether it actually pays off.

And then the third thing, which you referred to, is that you're seeing new kinds of technologies that, first of all, appeal to students who are not part of the regular market, but now that technology is being developed, such as through edX and through others, such that it is really beginning to break open the existing traditional market. So there's an existential threat to the very business model that, quite honestly, has been lasting for almost 2,000 years.

You point out the numbers are pretty staggering. You now have, among private, non-profit college graduates, 65 percent in debt. The average indebtedness is $20,000. Cost is obviously now at two, three hundred thousand dollars to go to college, at least. And it's not clear that they get that much out of it.

Butler: That's right. And that's the driving force. Once you combine information about whether you're getting good value for money, and then you combine that with new technologies, that gives you different ways of actually getting to the same result. That's what breaks open a market.

But of course, a lot of people say, that's fine, but you can't just sit in front of a computer and watch some professor – that's not education. What do you say to that, as somebody running an outfit that does sort of that?

Agarwal: Today's online education is not our grandfather's online education. Its completely transformed. We are doing short videos, interactive gaming technology where professors are using game-like technologies, discussions, segments such as yours, where various people get together, experts in the field get together to discuss a topic. So it's not just a video of a professor standing at the end of a classroom. So the technology has advanced tremendously. We bring discussion forums and the social into the classroom, into the online experience. And so this can be a very rich and very high quality experience.

And @ philip...remember this "Pursue peace and you shall find it?" You told me that the ONLY time you ever really apologised to me. And it was in regards to...your barbs about my truck brakes!! Go figure huh! And THAT was Oct 16th 2011 and the insults had been going on for awhile at that time. I havent lost all my faculties just yet dude so you need to back up off me!!!!

Wait, wait, wait...you're going to complain about the "babyish" comments after writing something as babyish as "Hey you guys are jobless? Sitting in some cave in India doing opium? What a waste. Oh well. I am outta here. Comments are so babyish" to people you know live and work in America?

Get a clue. Nobody wins vs The Hague. Not even the 8 (out of all the hundreds of) ardent NAZI MDs were able to escape The Hague. The 8 went to prison. The hundreds went to America. (Declassified US gov op Paperclip)

It's a simple concept, Chrissy. If he doesn't bring me up in his posts, I won't bother him unless he posts wrong information like he did yesterday when he stated unequivocally that Ritalin was (in fact) a SSRI when, (in fact) it is not.

After watching the morning news i am astonished that the people that are governing this country, particularly my STATE govt are so incredibly STUPID!!! Michigans Representative, Candice Miller (R) has announced her concern on the POTUSs immigration reform. She is going to tighten the borders in our state. She mustve forgotten we are nearly surrounded by water! But to all you people of Ohio, Indianna and Illinois Beware, it wont be an easy feat to enter our state illegally from here on out! She isnt too concerned about the Canadian Border though because Homeland Security monitors that border!! Go back to school Candice!!!

Hi Chrissy, it's so true. Louisiana is always at the bottom when it comes to education. Arizona was no better. That's why I'm headed to the northeast to finish what I started. My family for the most part is all there. That counts for so much.

Lol @ Tori hello! And yea i know its a challenge these days. But im glad youre gonna be close to your mom. And tell your dad i said hi next time you talk to him. I was being sarcastic earlier you know right? I just couldnt believe when she was spouting all that stupidness! Theyve been doing some real dumb stuff in our state...they cut a million bucks out of the education budget and closed up WHOLE school districts, and then give their staff 82 to 90% pay increases. Meanwhile no road repairs have been done...but hey! We're gettin another bridge to Canada, that we dont need nor want, named after the governor! Its ridiculous!

The finest quality of the MOOC concept is the increased potential for Equality in education.
A college degree, to which every citizen has a right guaranteed by the...uh, by law, in the USA, is not the same thing for each person. Let's take a doctorate, for example.
A doctorate for Sally may not reflect the same interests, attention span, or reading comprehension that a doctorate reflects for Joe. Each, if he goes through the course, will give different answers. If Joe gives a less desirable answer, the computer can offer an easier question, repeatedly, until Joe has correctly answered enough questions to earn his doctorate.
There should be no way for Sally to know what questions Joe answered correctly to earn his Equal doctorate.

Take @ TORI, for example. She is studying to be a medical doctor. She is not doing that in a MOOC. When she has been graduated, she will have a doctorate.
Now, as for the Reverend Billy Graham, he also has a doctorate.
They are both doctors, aren't they?
Just don't ask Dr. Graham to write a prescription. For that, you'll have to go to an NP.

Four years ago, a bunch of doctors stood around my hospital bed and said, "it' time to slow down."
A lady doctor explained the Serenity Prayer to me, and reminded her that she was a scientist.
A male doctor said, "we're talking about death here."
Next week I'll be 76 years old.

Rake leaves for the disabled, visit the elderly, mentor at risk kids, build ramps for aging seniors, paint
old buildings, help run a preschool, plant trees in neighborhoods, just to name a few for college students to pay their way through school or pay down their college debt. As time is the one limited resources we all possess, creating new volunteer opportunities would be time better spent.
College graduates have record high student loans, this harms our long term economy. Graduates do not have that extra cash to buy homes, furniture and appliances, this causes our economy to run slower, and keeps unemployment high.
The more hours of volunteering means communities are improved, and we help fine tune the economy with lower student loans debt.

Lmao @ Joey....i highly doubt your dislike of retirement has anything to do with money, or greed!!! More than likely its the mundane days of nothing to keep you active. At least not as active as you like! I find retirement rather boring. Lets just say its nothing like what i was led to believe! So in spite of your "real doctors" i say "good for you and keep on keepin on" ;)!

I have been taking edx courses for more than a year now, followed roughly 80 courses and gained a certificate in close to 30 (all withoyt having to pay a cent). I have a full time job. All I did was to swap the hours I watch TV with edxing... Instead of commercials between videos I answer questions about usually fun and exciting stuff.

Generally I don't learn post on blogs, however I would like to say that this write-up very compelled me to check out and do it! Your writing style has been surprised me. Thanks, quite great article.
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